Incredible!

Well, it has been almost a week and a half since the KU men's basketball team won the NCAA national championship tournament. It was twenty years since their last such victory. Jayhawk fans had been waiting a long time.

I can't recall why or when my family became KU supporters. We weren't ever huge sports fans, but we had to root for someone and instead of the other state schools we were 'Hawks people. So, all throughout my youth I watched and cheered with varied interest for KU sports. When it came time to choose a college, I didn't even think about going anywhere else. Sadly, though, school became more important and going to games became less, until I went to almost no basketball games my senior year. The five years after school I would catch them occasionally on TV, but I became less and less enchanted, and I can't explain why.

I moved to San Antonio and, as luck would have it, my institution hosted the final four this year. When KU beat UNC to advance to the finals, my friend Clay said he was coming down with Andy because they got tickets through his life-long buddy, Mike. We got to meet up, which was great, and they had another ticket for me. This was very fortunate and was something I didn't expect to happen. When KU made it to the FF, I figured it would be a shame to watch it on TV when I was in town for it, but how was I going to get tickets? The stars came into alignment and I felt like I did when I first went to school and saw games at Allen Fieldhouse.

Going to a game after so many years made the old memories and feelings rush back and I was again reminded how special KU basketball is to KU people. It was like I was never gone, except that I didn't know the players all that well. I kept up, though, thanks to Clay and Andy. You might think that I am a lucky jerk who didn't deserve to go when so many other rabid fans would have sold their children for a seat. Well, you'd be right. But those fans would be wrong to sell their children.

We had good seats and could see all of the action on the court with ease. We weren't close enough to hear the bounce of the ball or see any sweat fly, though. I won't go into game's details, but in the lead up to when Mario Chalmers hit the game-tying three-pointer, we all went from sad, to tense, to hopeful, to elated, all in about eight seconds. I can't recall a time in my life where I've been to an event at which I jumped up and down and hugged other grown men at the same time. I would have embraced strangers in crimson in blue if I wasn't surrounded by friends. It was terrific. Seeing pictures of Lawrence right after the game tells me that everyone there thought it was terrific, too.

All in all, it was a very fun experience, and my thanks to Clay and Andy, and especially to Mike Lage for coming through with a ticket for someone who didn't deserve one, but who is very appreciative.

Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk!